


Phoenix

by AlastorGrim



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angry Dib, Angst, BAMF Dib, Betrayal, Bottom Dib (Invader Zim), Competent Tallest, Extremely Dubious Consent, Implied ZaDr, Other, Pining, Rape/Non-con Elements, Smut, The Resisty Resisting Against the Irken Empire (Invader Zim), Threesome, voyuerism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:30:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22281871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlastorGrim/pseuds/AlastorGrim
Summary: Dib joined the Resisty while Zim stayed loyal to the Irken Empire. They've been at each other's throats for years, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with much higher stakes than they had on Earth. Dib was always prepared to lose.But this. This wasbetrayal.
Relationships: Almighty Tallest Purple/Almighty Tallest Red, Almighty Tallest Purple/Dib, Almighty Tallest Red/Dib, Dib/The Almighty Tallest, Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 56





	1. Unus

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be a smut fic. Maybe. If I can avoid plot that long.

Dib was thrown back into the wall, a small boot planted on his chest.

"It's over, Dib-beast. There is nowhere left for you to run," Zim sneered, triumph glittering in his eyes as Dib's chest heaved beneath his boot.

"Like I'd run from _you_," Dib spat, a wheeze leaving his lips as Zim leaned forward to rest his arms on his knee.

"Is that not what you have been doing for the past two years? Running from me? Running from the Empire?" Zim drawled, brow raised in mocking question.

Dib barked out a breathless laugh. "It's called tactical evasion. Not that you'd know, of course," He said with a cruel smile twisting his lips. "Since you're defective and all."

He got a kick to the face for his trouble, the ringing in his ears thankfully drowning out Zim's immediate defensive screeching. Dib licked the metallic taste off the backs of his teeth and let out a gritty laugh, Zim's ranting cutting off abruptly. Shaking his head, Dib sighed. He looked back up at Zim through his lashes, tone dead and nostalgic. 

"You haven't changed at all, Zim."

He said it _fondly_, but his eyes were empty. Hard, sparkling topaz filled with a great void of _nothing_.

Zim tipped his head at Dib, eyes wide and owlish. Then he blinked, a slight quirk to his lips. "I do not intend to kill you, Dib. You will not die today."

That horrible, empty look vanished beneath an onslaught of angry confusion. Dib grabbed Zim's leg and yanked, managing to remove it only to be pinned in place by Zim's PAK legs. He growled. "What? Why not?"

"I managed to convince the Tallest to keep you alive for the time being," Zim explained as he examined his non-existent nails through his gloves. He was smirking now, very pleased with himself. "After all, granting you death after everything you've done? It would be a _mercy_. No, I will be sending you to the Tallest themselves, prepackaged."

"You're 'gifting' me to your leaders? That need for approval still going strong, I see," Dib mused in an attempt to rile Zim up some more.

"Stupid human," Zim hissed as he dug the points of his PAK legs into Dib's shoulders, just enough to draw blood. "This is not about approval. The Tallest want you alive so that you can do the one thing you have adamantly professed that you would never do." He leaned forward, teeth bared in a menacing grin. "Serve the Empire."

"Like _hell_," Dib snarled, coming alive beneath Zim hold in a way that Zim had missed in the years since they'd been on Earth. "What makes you think that I would _ever_\--"

"Oh, you won't have a choice," Zim replied sweetly, vindictive. He dug a claw into Dib's chest. "You called us a virus, once. Well, Dib-thing, all we have to do is infect you," He cooed, relishing in the drain of color from the Dib's face. Dib's struggle for freedom increased to frantic scrabbling, grasping carelessly at Zim's PAK legs and shoving them roughly off himself, heedless of the gashes he inflicted on himself in doing so. 

Zim yelped and teetered as Dib pushed out from underneath him and made a dash for the door on the other side of the room. Scowling, Zim whistled and two more Irkens rushed into the room, cutting Dib down. Or, trying to. But, having been an Earth long enough to recognize a feral, cornered animal, Zim wasn't surprised when it took the other two soldiers a few minutes and broken limbs before they were able to subdue Dib.

Dib had always fought like every breath was his last, and he was determined to make it count. It was as fascinating as Zim remembered it to be. Especially since it wasn't him getting wounded this time.

Only when Dib knelt on the ground, hands bound behind his back and ankles cuffed to them, did Zim approach him again. 

Furious eyes glowered up at Zim, wild and angry. Dib bared his teeth at Zim, who hummed and touched a hand gently to the human's cheek. Dib flinched, but seemed to settle a bit when nothing happened. He eyed Zim warily, but there was something faint and old in his eyes. An old hope that the human couldn't seem to shake. 

Zim smiled at him. "I did say prepackaged."

Dib had only a moment to blink in shock before a muzzle unfolded and locked over his mouth from where Zim's hand had rested. Dib reared back from him, rage flooding his face once more as he screamed, muffled behind the metal now covering the lower half of his face. 

Turning to the other soldiers, Zim snapped, "Give me the transporter!"

Sneering at Zim--how dare a smaller order them about?--they threw a black disk in his direction, irritated. Zim fumbled it, then hissed in annoyance at the Irken, who smirked back at him. Zim turned back to Dib, who was now shaking his head like a dog as he attempted to get himself free. 

"Relax, Dib-thing," Zim murmured as he reached forward to place the disc on Dib's chest. "It is a great honor to serve the Tallest. You will see. And if you do not, well--the Tallest are very...persuasive," He mused, eyes half-lidded as he pressed the button in the center of the disc.

Dib's stifled shout of fury was cut off abruptly as he was teleported away from the now ruined Resisty ship, and through a wide stretch of space--

To the Massive.

"Well."

"_This_ is the thing that's been giving us so much trouble?"

Dib's chest heaved as he blinked spots out of his vision, disoriented, only to spot two familiar figures seated in front of him.

Two metal wrought thrones against the backdrop of a window looking out into blank space, and the two, tall aliens perched on them. Tallest Red, and Tallest Purple. 

Dib felt fury and fear take him in equal measure, his chest cold with dread. Spleenk's voice echoed through his ears, hollow now that the Vortian was dead.

_"The Almighty Tallest may be arrogant, but they are ruthless. They get what they want, when they want it, no matter the cost."_

_"The Tallest want you alive so you can do the one thing you professed that you would never do. Serve the Empire."_

Resolve hardened in Dib's chest, eyes flashing. '_I won't. I'll never willing serve tyrants._'

Tallest Purple was leaning forward slightly, his jaw held in the cusp of his gauntlet, eyes half-lidded and a bit bored. Tallest Red was sitting up straight, head tipped in curiosity as he looked down at Dib. They were both dressed in their respective colors, with delicate silver tassels spiralling down from the sides of their skirts, which were overlaid in polished metal and black sashes, decorated with Irken insignia. A little more ornate than usual, if the broadcasts were to be believed.

"Didn't Zim say that humans were frail?" Red drawled, blinking slowly.

"He also said that they were evil, but we both know that he is often melodramatic," Purple replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. He cocked a brow at Dib, lips twitching upwards. "But this one looks _feral_."

"Probably best to keep the muzzle on, then," Red mused.

Dib glared at him.

"Your crimes against the Empire are almost beyond measure, human," Purple murmured. "How you managed to rival even _Zim_ in destruction is a feat in and of itself."

"You're making that sound like a compliment," Red huffed, irate. "He and his little band of misfits destroyed more Irken ships than anyone before ever has. That's not something we praise."

"You have to admit though, it is impressive." Purple glanced at his fellow leader and tipped his head. "Makes me wonder what else he could do."

"Nothing, now. At least," Red paused as he began to register what Purple was getting at. "Not to _us_."

Purple hummed and turned his attention back to Dib. "There's a reason I let Zim try to convince us to keep the human alive. The idea has merit."

Red scoffed and leaned back in his throne, incredulous. "To a certain extent," He allowed reluctantly. "But really, what can the human do without his little Resistance behind him?"

"Whatever we want him to." Purple gestured to where Dib was kneeling, muzzled and bound, before them. "Does it look like he's going anywhere?"

"You can't be suggesting--"

"Can't I?" Purple mused. "Besides it's not like they're antonymous. We send the little beast out to do our bidding by killing his own men, and then he comes back here, like a good dog."

Red raised an eyebrow. "You want to use him as a double agent?"

A hum, claws tapping idly on the arm of his throne. "Not exactly. From the reports, the human's a bit of a berserker. We send him in and it's only a matter of time before he kills them all. No espionage necessary."

Contemplative, Red leaned back in his throne and tipped his head at Dib. "That _would_ take care of most of them. They would see him as a friend--he could catch them off guard."

"Then bam, the war is over," Purple agreed. "What do you say?"

"The idea...isn't terrible. But what would we do with him afterwards? We already had Zim destroy the dirtball he called home, so we couldn't just send him back."

"I wouldn't want to anyway. He's blown up too many of our freights to just be 'sent back'."

Red blinked, surprised. "You want to keep him?"

Purple smirked. "Why not?" He stood then, and both Red and Dib stared in bewilderment as he made his way over to Dib. Dib recoiled, straining against his bonds with a growl so low it could be heard through the muzzle. Purple grasped his chin and the muzzle melted away so he could dig the points of his claw tips into Dib's cheek. "He's a pretty puppy."

"_Fuck you_," Dib snarled as he jerked his face out of the Tallest's grasp. 

"Mm. Not just yet," Purple drawled, unphased by his rudeness. 

"Pur," Red hissed. "You can't let inferior beings talk to you like that! No matter how much you like them."

"Don't worry, Red, the human will get what's coming to him." A single, thin claw traced down Dib's jaw and prodded into the hollow of his throat. Metal unspooled around him once more, just to latch tightly around his throat. Dib winced and scowled. "He just needs a little house training."

_A fucking **collar**_.

Dib tried to wrench his hands free, the cuffs over his wrists groaning in their effort to keep him restrained. "You fucking--"

A sharp bolt of electricity snapped out of the collar and pinged painfully through Dib's nervous system. He fell over with a yelp. 

Tallest Purple laughed. "Sorry," He simpered. "I didn't catch that."

Dib shook his head and groaned against the floor, pained. A clawed hand took a fistful of his hair and wrenched him back upright, head yanked back and collared throat exposed to piercing periwinkle eyes. Dib glared up at him, dazed.

"You scowl at me now, human, but very soon you will be just as loyal to us as the lowest of service drones. You will slaughter your own soldiers with glee. But until then, I want to enjoy that fire in your eyes," Purple crooned, a cruel quirk to his lips. He tossed Dib backwards and strode back to his throne with a call to one of the guards thrown over his shoulder. "Take that and strip it of anything that could be used as a weapon. Then put it in the lounge to wait."

"Yes, my Tallest," The guard rumbled, grabbing Dib by the back of his trenchcoat and dragging him off.

"You...You won't get away with this! I'll never willing serve you! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST!" Dib roared as he was slung out of the throne room.

The resulting shock felt like nothing compared to the adrenaline coursing through his veins, straining against his limbs and buzzing in his teeth. The heavy doors slammed shut behind him, and Purple glanced at Red with a raised eyebrow.

"Well?"

"It's cute," Red agreed after a moment. He leaned back with a small smirk. "This'll be fun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of refs to Indigo but what can ya do? I got all impatient.
> 
> Can you tell I like shock collars? >:3


	2. Duo

Dib was thrown haphazardly into a strange room made almost entirely out of black stone. The guard released his restraints and kicked him further into the room with a noise of disgust.

"Strip him down. Make sure he's clean and bound before you put him in the lounge." He snapped to the cluster of other, smaller Irkens standing across the room, looking surprised. The guard sneered down at Dib. "Don't touch the collar. It should put him down if he decides to get frisky."

"Fuck you," Dib snapped, much less heat in it than when he'd screamed it at the Tallest. 

The guard snickered and backed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Dib pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, then stood. The cluster of smaller Irkens edged closer, a particularly brave one with green eyes trotting forward to tug at Dib's coat.

They--she, from her antennae--looked up at him and yanked again. "Take this off."

Still cuffed at the wrists and ankles, Dib couldn't very well take it off, but he was going to pretend that it was an act of defiance instead, because it made him feel less helpless. "No, okay, listen." Dib's eyes darted around the room and found that-- _ yes,  _ most of the Irkens in the room were below the minimal height for deference. Servants. "I can get you out of here. All you have to do is uncuff me."

The green eyed Smaller scoffed and put her hands on her hips. "You are not the first prisoner to promise things like that, nor will you be the last. Now take off your garments or we will take them off for you."

"But I actually  _ can  _ get you out!" Dib insisted, faintly frantic. "I know what it's like for Irkens that don't meet certain height requirements. You're treated like tools and playthings. I have a few Irkens on my team, and some of them are shorter than you! If you uncuff me, I can guarantee every one of you safe haven in the Resistance headquarters."

"Wait, so you're…" The lady faltered. Her antennae lowered slightly, hesitant, and a few others looked tempted as well. 

"Oh  _ honestly _ ," Came a high pitched snarl. An Irken slightly shorter than the rest shoved their way forward, antennae trembling in anger. Glimmering silver eyes glared up at Dib. "Yiu, do your job! The contemplations of you  _ and your peers  _ will be put to review at a later date. Disloyalty will  _ not  _ be tolerated."

Yiu squeaked and hastily jumped away from Dib. "Yes, Flit," She yelped before scrambling for something in her uniform. Her hands were shaking as she pulled out a large pair of long scissors, enough so that Flit rolled his eyes and stalked forward to snatch them away from her. Cringing, she ducked her head and scurried back into the throng. "Apologies."

Flit then turned his hostile gaze on Dib, who scowled right back. "Trying to garner sympathy will get you nowhere, filth ridden scum. Do not presume the ways of our people when you know nothing." He darted forward with scissors and, in three quick slices, had Dib's trench coat and shirt off and shredded on the floor. Dib was confronted with the sudden, unwelcome knowledge that the room was cold as fuck. Flit tossed the scraps back toward the throng, a few of which scurried forward to grab them and do who knew what with it. Smirking at Dib, Flit tapped the blades against his spine. "Besides, it is not us who are the playthings," He drawled, vindictive and malicious. "But  _ you. _ "

Eyes widening, Dib opened his mouth to retort or demand, only to be swept up in a whirlwind of tiny Irkens before he could speak. The rest of his clothes were disposed of, and then he was being shoved into a vat full of some sort of heated gel that felt highly astringent. Then he was yanked back out, spun with black cloth, and then tossed abruptly out of the room. 

Still gasping and half-blind from the treatment, Dib stumbled into the wall, the bulky block that had been around his hands having been changed out for a smaller pair of handcuffs similar to Earth ones, but made of a darker metal and strung with a longer chain. The one around his ankles had been taken off as well, but unlike his wrist restraints, those hadn't been replaced. 

A heavy, three fingered hand clamped down on his bicep and hauled Dib in a different direction. Though he was capable of running now, Dib was still greatly disoriented from being thrown about and shaken down by aliens the size of kindergartners. 

The collar still strapped around his neck buzzed warningly when he tensed against the guard's grip, but eased as Dib was bodily  _ thrown  _ into another room.

Chuckling darkly as Dib landed harshly on side, the guard waved their fingers at him mockingly. "Good luck,  _ human _ . You are going to need it."

Dib grit his teeth and pushed himself up onto his palms, the horribly final sound of a door sealing shut only amplifying the Irken's snickering as they walked away, task completed. Rubbing hard at his eyes until they cleared, glasses askew, Dib looked around the room and back to the door. 

It was dim, but there seemed to be the outlines of several plush pieces of furniture, decorated in various shades of gray, pink, red, and purple. There was a larger, pod-like thing near the opposite wall that was shrouded in sheer curtains. 

Staggering to his feet, Dib struggled to regain his balance before rushing over to the panel door. He felt along the seams and dug his fingertips in, but it did nothing. He smacked his hands against it, angry and desperate as the reality of his situation started to sink in. 

"Hey! Asshole! You can't keep me in here!" He shouted against the segmented metal, vaguely aware that the guard was already long gone and wouldn't be able to hear him.

' _ Gee, Dib, it sure as hell  _ ** _looks _ ** _ like they can keep you in there, _ ' A voice that sounded scarily like Gaz snarked.

No. No, Dib could get out of this. He had gotten out of tighter scrapes than this before.

' _ Have you, though? _ '

Dib swallowed.

Stepping back from the door, Dib glanced down at himself. His clothes had been mauled, but at least they'd given him something to cover his junk with. It was a looping chain of thin metal that hung off his hips, two folds of flimsy black fabric sown in the front and the back. The symbol of the Irken Empire was stamped on the front in bright magenta, taking up a third of the fabric and branding Dib as property.

He scowled down at it. The rest of him was relatively normal, so they hadn't done anything horrible to his DNA or something. The scars littering his skin were all still there, now accompanied by two new ones on his shoulders where Zim had pinned him in place with his PAK legs. Dib ran his fingertips over one, and jolted when he realized that the tattoos he had on that shoulder had turned white. Whirling, Dib came to the revelation that  _ all  _ of his tattoos had turned white. Something in that gross gel they'd thrown him in must have reacted to the ink in his skin, bleaching it ivory. 

Groaning, he rolled his eyes to the heavens as if praying for patience and slowly slid down the wall. He sat down, knocking his head back into the metal with a grimace.

Tracing the new scars again, Dib let out a shaky breath. The adrenaline of battle and being captured was slowly leeching out of him, leaving him with the cold, empty facts of his reality.

The base ship of the Resistance had been attacked and most of them killed. Maybe all of them, Dib didn't know. Nor would he know anytime soon, because he was trapped on the Massive with no foreseeable way off, awaiting the Tallest's judgement. 

And then, there was the most terrifying fact of all. 

_ "We already had Zim destroy that dirt ball he called home…" _

Dib screwed his eyes shut. No. That wasn't true. It  _ couldn't _ be true, because he would've known. He would've known if his home planet were destroyed--he would've  _ felt  _ it. Right? He would have felt it if his planet, his family, Gaz…

He left without saying goodbye. He had run off to space to go fight in a war that wasn't his, and he had left Earth defenseless. If it was true, if Earth was gone and Gaz was dead; it was Dib's fault. Everything was his fault. The deaths of Ixane and Spleenk, the death of everyone on Earth. 

Dib knew he had blood on his hands. Most days, it didn't bother him. He justified himself by telling himself that he was doing something right, that he was killing for a cause. 

Now he felt like Macbeth. 

_ Will the might of Neptune's ocean be able to cleanse this blood from my hands? _

Dib remembered the day that everything changed. It was the start of summer, and Dib had turned seventeen that fall. The last birthday he would count before he started counting rotations instead. 

He and Zim had come to be something of frenemies. They were still enemies at their cores, their causes so solidly split from one another as they were, but sometimes, when things grew quiet and the sun dawned on the wreckage of their battles, their similarities would seem more bold than their differences. 

They hung out. They got ice cream together and occasionally went and saw bad movies together so they could sit in the back and insult the actors, and on one memorable occasion, even attended a school dance together. Zim had burst into Dib's bedroom demanding that Dib teach him how to dance, and in exchange, he would accompany Dib as the required 'date'. Dib had agreed because while he hadn't been planning on going to the dance, he thought it would be funny to watch Zim make a fool out of himself trying to dance.

But the dance had actually been fun. They weren't friends, but they were no longer true enemies any longer. Occasionally, when things had been warm between them, Dib would try and dissuade Zim from his mission. Zim would always laugh in his face and leave not long after, but every time Dib asked, he seemed to laugh a little louder, a little more forced.

Back then, Dib had suspected that maybe Zim had some empathy. He didn't believe that now.

That day, Dib gone over to Zim's house to pester him about the homework, and found Zim rushing around frantically and piling weapons in the living room. Zim had taken one look at him and launched himself at him, not attacking, but clutching at him and shouting. When Dib finally managed to get Zim off of him, he discovered that he had been called back to Irk to fight against the so-called Resisty. That he was to terminate his mission and then rejoin the ranks on the Massive for deployment.

And in that moment, Zim had turned to him and  _ begged  _ Dib to join him. To abandon his horrible, ungrateful planet and to go with Zim to fight, because Dib was the most capable warrior Zim knew. 

Dib couldn't. It went against everything he'd fought for, everything he'd done since Zim had arrived on his planet. He couldn't just fly off with an alien and leave Earth to die.

' _ But isn't that what you did anyway? _ ' 

That was different. It  _ was.  _ Because then, it had been about saving his world, just like it had always been. It was always going to come down to that fundamental rift between the two of them, because no matter how much they were alike, no matter how close they grew, that single point of difference was always going to tear them apart.

And Dib admitted that maybe he'd been a little hurt. Wounded at the idea that Zim could just blow the Earth up and leave like it was nothing. It stung.

Zim had pleaded with him to join, saying that he could convince the Tallest that Dib was a formidable fighter, and he could urge them to let him in the ranks. Said that Dib would be in the lap of luxury, that he would be praised for his skills in a way that he would never be on Earth. 

But in the end, just like always, neither of them could give up their cause. Neither of them wanted to yield. 

So they fought, Dib won, and the Earth was spared an early implosion. 

The next day, Zim's base was gone. Everything that could've tied him back to Earth was gone. And two days after that, Dib fixed Tak's ship and followed suit. He found the Resisty's base, asked to join the cause, and soon he was in the top of the ranks. Two years in, and he was leading them. Bettering them. Leading them against the enemy and  _ winning _ .

Three, and it left him here. 

Chained, caught, collared. Zim hadn't even killed him like he'd always insisted he would. He'd tossed Dib at his leaders like a sack of potatoes for a pat on the head.

Gritting his teeth, the odd feeling of betrayal welled up in his chest, igniting rage along the way. "When I get out of this, Zim, I'm going to dump your leader's heads at your feet," Dib promised darkly. He hoped that wherever he was, Zim could feel it. Dib hoped he felt dreadful and helpless, just like Dib did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did put Flit in, because I am trash :')

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all really gonna make me fill the Pradr tag by myself, huh.


End file.
